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It’s been quite some time since I’ve built a PC. I’m looking to building a dedicated Plex Server PC for roughly $500. There will only be 2-3 users at one time. I’ve searched online and everything I’ve found seems to be out of date.
Anyone have.a setup on a similar budget they’d like to share?
Thank you.
Does the budget include the media storage or do you already have a NAS or some external drives?
I already have external hard drives but can bump the budget up some if need be to add SSD.
Are you considering Plex Pass? This is important, because if you do you should go for a modern Intel (desktop) CPU. Only because it has Quicksync hardware transcoding, which is much more capable than even the priciest add-on GPU in terms of number of simultaneously transcoded video streams.
The quality of the video files and the video codec they mainly use is also very important.
As well as is the type of Plex client you will be using.
I’m in the same boat, looking to upgrade my current system. I already have plex pass and an 80 tb drive. Similar to bradyschuckman, I’ll only have 3-5 users probably ever at the max.
Forgot to add, I’d probably be using Windows as the OS.
CPU-wise that’s a very viable system. A “Comet Lake” generation chip, so it has at least full support for HEVC 10 bit.
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-10400+%40+2.90GHz&id=3737
Personally, I find the 12 GB RAM a bit dubious, but hey, you can probably easily replace the 4GB module with an 8GB module later.
Try to find out how many hard drive drive bays it has internally available. Because this is still the preferable way to add storage.
if you are building your own, or buying something used, a good minimum to look for is;
Good catch, I would have assumed that it would have extra bays…
One buyer –
One PCI Express x16 slot for Graphic Interface
One PCI Express x1 slot
One PCI slot
One M.2 (2242/2280) for PCIe SSD and Intel Optane memory
But it turns out the tower doesn’t have extra bays. Someone was able to attach it to the wall w/ a single screw. – Not sure thats what I’d want to do.
It is a bit unlikely, that a midi-tower has no hard drive cage and connections at all.
I’d give some Acer rep a call. Their website is unfortunately of no use https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/model/DT.BF2AA.002
I just purchased that exact model last week. Actually, it wasn’t quite I purchased the Mechanical drive option as I already had an nvme to slot in.
Though I dont transcode I just got some web browsers going to test it out for you.
With Hardware acceleration enabled I get 39-60% CPU with 4 X 1080p and a single 4K HDR remux down to a 720p.
Dropping the 4K transcode the CPU Is pretty idle with the 4 1080p transcodes. Peaking at a maximum of 30%.
Also, those figures are for the total system so include any regular CPU usage while Windows does what it does.
To be clear as we cross posted expansion is pretty much non existant.
@Xhaka does it have any hard drive bays and the necessary SATA ports available inside?
Yeah I was looking for an I7, for around $500-600 I haven’t see that many options, to be fair I just started looking.
Bestbuy has this on sale -
Intel 8th Generation Core i7
Intel UHD Graphics 630
256 ssd
And has an extra bay.
Looking at the benchmarks, i don’t know if there’s that much of a difference between 8th gen i7 and 10th gen i5
I think there is one spare one. The issue will be the power connectors. Its some funky thing I have never seen before. Right now Im down 4 to USB externals. If the need arises I will get an ICY BOX 8 bay JBOD.
I had one previously and it does the job.
Something like this.
Icy Box IB-3680SU3 External 8 Bay JBOD Case for 3.5 inch SATA l/ll/lll HDDs to USB 3.0/eSATA Host: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories
Ugh. Only one drive bay – that’s no real PC in my opinion. Probably not so ideal as a Plex server then.
Yean one and an NVME thats about it.
Since this is an ultra low voltage cpu as well, I wonder if the mainboard is actually one from their laptop range. Because I happen to have such a thing from Acer as my spare machine: one NVMe and one Sata. And for a laptop that’s OK. But not for a desktop., IMHO.
Unless you are building a NAS server, media storage should be kept separate.
you can use any of the 7th gen or newer NUC boxes for a pms server, for example.
I don’t really see a good reason for this. Running a Plex server with internal storage exactly like that since several years.
(Backups go to a separate drive/NAS, though.)
sure, but did it cost less than $500 ?
keeping storage considerations out of the equation of a $500 box, lets you spend more money on the more important hardware parts.
